Catherine Pett

Catherine Pett (17 November 1864 – 23 January 1926) was a teacher at the Darwin Public School for 22 years as well as acting as a community organiser in Darwin. Pett spent much of her life in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Early life

Pett was born in Moonta, South Australia and was the second eldest of eight children born to James and Eliza Cooper. Pett grew up here and, after completing her schooling, trained as a school teacher, and joined the South Australian Education Department in 1865.

As early as March 1889 Pett requested the government to allow her to take in boarders 's Mr Pett is leaving the company will make the house less lonely' and later, on 10 August 1889, she gave birth to a son. This caused a lot of concern with the government of the day as concerns had been raised about appointing a married woman in the region because of the physical strain of bearing and raising a child in the hot temperature. Concerns were also raised about the 'moral effect' of a schoolmistress conducting her duties while pregnant. In May 1894 Pett lost her otherwise healthy son, known locally as King, to croup (this was also recorded as 'mock croup').

Pett's school and her home suffered significant damage in the 1897 Darwin cyclone and, after the destruction she spent a brief period of leave in Adelaide. After this it also appears that Pett became the guardian (or close compainion) of Dorothy Mabel Stretton, a child whose mother was killed in the cyclone. One of the people that acted in defence of her was William George Stretton, the father of Dorothy. Pett also argued in her own defence to the South Australian government who employed her. Their son Ronald remained with Pett.

She then travelled to Gawler where she taught at the Sandy Creek School for another 15 years.